


rule

by WrongRemedy



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Character compliant but not kayfabe compliant, Cults, Implied Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 23:07:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13600365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrongRemedy/pseuds/WrongRemedy
Summary: xavier addresses their followers. a bravier story inspired by the early wyatt family swamp cult vignettes.





	rule

**Author's Note:**

> for sam (i still owe you several longer fics i'm sure)
> 
> content warning for all the creepy cult themes you'd normally associate with bray, as well as one brief mention of vague sexual content
> 
> written in all lowercase for no particular reason besides that it seemed right
> 
> title is a cop-out, i couldn't find a song lyric that fit

xavier has never felt more powerful.

bray by his side, the now-familiar sounds of the deep bayou wilderness around them, and, of course, the followers kneeling at their feet; in the mud on bended knee, gazing up at them with intensity, with adoration, with belief.

“you’ve all heard it before!” xavier exclaims to the ones who are gathered to hear what he has to say. he doesn’t yell; he doesn’t need to. his voice is forceful enough now, no longer something to be tucked away. “they’ve told you: ‘follow your dreams!’, ‘follow the dollar!’, ‘follow in someone’s footsteps!’. they call these things motivation, but we know the truth...they’re nothing but traps. you follow your dreams and they turn into nightmares! you follow the dollar and you end up in the poor house! you follow in someone’s footsteps, and you become nothing but a clone.”

his gaze roams the group, looking each supplicant in the eye, and he can feel it in his bones how they hinge on every word. in the back of his mind, a whisper of bray’s voice from so long ago - ( _i see you, woods. you’re capable of so much_ ) - convincing him that he had this potential within him, assuring him that he would feel this someday. ( _bray never lies_ ). xavier looks at their disciples.

“the time has come for you to forget whoever and whatever it is that they told you to follow before. out there, in the world, they don’t care about you. from the cradle to the grave you are nothing to them but cannon fodder, and their encouragements serve no other purpose than to stuff you into the barrell even faster. but here?”

he pauses again. looks to his left and finds bray already staring at him with a grin on his face that packs pride, encouragement, lust, and corruption into one single expression in a way xavier hadn’t known was possible before bray had come into his life. he craves that look nearly every moment these days, knew he would find it if he went looking now, needed to see it before he could finish his speech because while xavier may be a king in these woods, he’ll never forget who it was that crowned him.

“here...” xavier repeats, turning back to the worshipers. “we can help you know yourselves in ways the outside world would deny you. here you can be free from the painted prison they would have you place yourself in. here we will never ask you to follow anything or anyone who would cause you harm.”

xavier throws his arms out to the side and looks up, gazes through the dark tangle of trees to the deceptively welcoming blue sky above ( _bray’s eyes through the curtain of his hair when he’s on top of xavier, when they’re alone_ ), sees the movement of dark shapes circling overhead.

“only the buzzards,” he assures them. “follow the buzzards and they will always lead you to freedom; they will always lead you home.”

he feels bray’s hand in his, turns his head again to look at the man who gave him this throne upon which he sits. the others are still at their feet, they won’t move until their leaders tell them to.

xavier has never felt more powerful.

**Author's Note:**

> find me talking wrestling on tumblr at: unprofessionalwrestling  
> find me talking general fandom/following back at: somethingsoinviting


End file.
